Nevada County picayune., 1887-09-01
CART LOADS OF MONEY.
PROCESSION TWENTY THREE
 MILES LONG.
Startling Figures About the Money in the
 United States Treasury.

Startling Figures About the Money in the
 United States Treasury.
 Few persons, perhaps who read the frequently published reports of the fiscal operations ot the gov. ernment give any consideration to the vastneSs and significance of operations. We read Of the hun. dreds of millions of gold and silver in the treasury. but how few per sons have any intelligent idea of what is embraced in the figures re. auired to describe the liabilities and assets of the Government. It is only when the auriferous con- tents of the treasury vaults are weighed and measured, and plac' ed by the side of articles and com modities that are daily handled by the masses, that an intelligent comprehension can be Obtaipedb by the people of the financial strength of the treasury and the great extent of theG Government fiscal operations.
 find, by reference to the latest published statement of. treasury as. sets and liabilities, that among the assets was a2S1.O96,317 in gold and nearly s25O,000,0O0 in silver including S34, ,0O0,OO0 of trade dol. lars and fractional coins. Taking up this s2Sl 100000 of gold and placing it on scales, find that the gold held by the treasury weighed 519 tons, and if packed into ordi nary carts, one ton to each cart, It would make procession two miles long, allowing twenty feet ot space for the movement of each horse and cart.
 The weighing of the silver pro- duces much more interesting re- suits. Running this over the scales 1 find its weight to be 7,30C tons. Measuring 1t in carts, as in the case of the gold, the silver now held by the treasury would require the services of 7,396 horses and carts to transport it, and would make a procession over twenty one miles in length.
 The surplus about which so much is said in the daily newspapers amounts to nearly S47,OOO,WO, an increase of 5,OO0, ,OOO since July 1. Counted as gold, this surplus would weigh eighty-six and one. half tons. Counted as silver 1t would weigh 1885 tons.
 Each million of gold adds 3,6S5 pounds to the surplus, and each million of silver adds S,93O pounds. Applying cubic measurment to the treasury gold and silver, and piling the two metals on Pennsyl- vania avenue as cordwoOd is piled before delivery to the purchaser, l find that the gold wOuldmeasure thirty-seven cords and the silver 492 cords, and that both would ex. tend from the treasury department to 1.2 street, or from the treasu. ry to the pension office in straight line, and forming solld wall eight feet high and four feet broad.
 Extending these calculations and comparisons to the interest bearing debt, equally interesting results are obtained. The public debt reached the highest point in Aug. 'S5--just twentytwo years ago-when it was S2,3S1, ,53O,295 The general reader will better appreciate the vastness of this sum when informed that it represents 70,l56 tons of silver, which would make procession of carts that would extend from Rich- mond, Na., to a point twelve miles north of Philadelphia, the distance it would cover being 366 miles,
 The interest bearing debt is now mot including the Pacific railroad bonds) Sl ,O0l ,976,S showing that the sum paid has been sl, l,379 ,553,- i4j, or more than one half the total amount, and representing 40,637 tons of silver dollars, which would extend 15t miles if packed in cars containing one ton each.
 Reducing these figures to a ba. sis where they may be intelligently apprehended, and that the rapidity with which the government has reduced it's bonded debt may be fully realized by the geueral read CT. l find that the reduction has